Germ war in Vietnam?

OUT NTENTS An Evaluation of ahn Maynard Keynes by G. Pilling NIGERIA TODAY by J. Kiomenesekenegha Rosa Luxemburg by C. Slaughter MONOPOLY CAPITAL Be sure of your copy of this journal of International Marxism by writing to:

186a, Clapham High Street, London, S.W.4. the main drive for Britain's entry into Europe came from the Not only did they require a political counterweight to Germany and France in Europe and NATO; they were anxious to extract the maximum possible advantage from the large sums of money which had been invested in British industry. Price 4s. This could only be done if the British motor-car industry, chemical and oil industries etc. were integrated with Europe, so that capital could move more freely and have a bigger market at its command.

In the present situation, however, British entry into Europe, which involves a sacrifice or devaluațion of the pound, would be a serious threat to the position and stability of US capital.

The pound is still responsible for the finance of roughly a fifth of world trade.

The US balance of payments deficit, which has become an increasingly serious problem during the 1960s, has placed a serious question mark over the position of the dollar. It is increasingly unable to bear the strains which it has to carry as the main means of international trade and finance.

Should the pound, which is still the second most important trading currency, lose its status as a reserve currency this would intensify the 'liquidity crisis' and impose a massive strain on the over-burdened dollar.

as a result of entry into the Europe, the pound was to be devalued this would certainly precipitate a first-class crisis in the world monetary system and THE AMERICAN imperialists are using the war in Vietnam to try out a whole armoury of terror weapons. They hope, in this way, to frighten the Vietnamese workers and peasants into submission and they also hope to scare off any other section of the world working class which might contemplate revolutionary struggle against capitalism. In the process they can increase the power of the terroristic machinery at their disposal.

Not only have the Americans used so-called conventional weapons like 'Puff the Magic Dragon', 'Lazy Dog' shrapnel shells and mass bombing raids.

They use napalm to burn and destroy whole villages and townships.

They devastate thousands of areas of forest and standing crops using poison sprays. They use anti-personnel gasses against demonstrators and in battle, and they have even recruited beg bugs to act as scouts for their infantry.

The recent outbreak plague which is still raging in the revolutionary stronghold of the Mekong Delta in South Vietnam raises an even more sinister question:

Is the US using germ warfare in Vietnam?

Many • indications point in this direction. The US governScience Correspondent ment spends vast sums of money (114.5 million dollars in 1963-1964) on research in chemical and biological warfare-much of this is spent on germ warfare research at such places as Piri Bluffs Arsenal, Arkansas, and Dugway Proving Ground, Utah.

The British allies of the US maintain the Porton, Hants, centre which is undoubtedly closely tied up in this grisly work: one of the chief Porton research workers, a Dr. Bacon, died recently of pneumonic plague caught in the course of his work.

These research sections have paid close attention to the development of new strains of virulent bacteria, and more than 140 variants of the plague bacterium Pasteurella Pestis have been developed.

Many of these are far more virulent than natural strains. Other research is concentrated on methods of producing these in bulk.

Natural plague is carried by rats and other rodents, and transmitted to man by fleas. This was how the Black Death was carried: The epidemic of bubonic plague which ravaged across Europe in the 14th century, causing 20 million deaths.

American research has found new ways with this fearful disease. It can now be spread by spraying a fine aerosol containing the bacteria from a plane or on the ground. Any unvaccinated person who breathes spray dies in agony.

The American imperialists in the past have shown no scruples about using germ warfare A relatively crude form was used in the Korean war when special canisters containing infected rats and insects were dropped on North Korea who have now finally separated from us, of the impression of being badly treated. y and China. The Chinese government produced detailed evidence of these crimes and it wholeheartedly endorse this viewpoint. was never rebutted by Washington.

Whether or not the US is in fact deliberately spreading the plague in Vietnam, one thing is absolutely certain. Even the most obscene methods of imperialist war have not broken the determination of the Vietnamese workers to throw off the yoke of imperialism.

They have quite the opposite effect. Johnson, the modern Genghis Khan, claims to be bringing democracy and civilisation to Vietnam. This is a lie from beginning to end. In order to protect their rotten and corrupt system, the imperialists are prepared to drag Vietnam back into the Dark Ages, using modern scientific techniques.

What stands between them and their aim is the power of the international working class.

The choice is between socialism and barbarism and it can only be resolved through an all-out Yours fraternally, struggle to defeat imperialism Sheila Torrance, Fourth International. under the leadership of the National Secretary,

Brooke Bond Tea • on-the-spot report THE NEW SLETTER NEWSLETTEK PHUlUuKsid by TONY BANDA formist) and Communist Party (Moscow- and Peking-orientated) demagogues. These are the manual and unskilled sections of workers.

In the port of Colombo for instance the CMU's membership embraces grades from the highest supervisor down to the wharf hand. On this framework this union could possibly build the most powerful revolutionary confederation of unions in this country's history.

The union is already acting as a pole of attraction to such workers and hence the concern of the bourgeoisie lest it serves to undermine one of the chief props of the bourgeois-democratic regime which has reigned in this country since 1948, i.e., the LSSP (Reformist) and Stalinistcontrolled unions.

Thre CEYLON ing to the fore in trade union